It is well known to provide a liquid-gas accumulator to provide a supply of hydraulic fluid at a high flow rate when the accumulator is actuated. Various types of accumulators have been used in the past such as bladder types, guided float types and non-guided float types, some of which actuate a spring-loaded liquid inlet-outlet valve. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,862 discloses a non-guided float type liquid-gas accumulator having a housing with a top gas port and a bottom liquid port. A spring-loaded, normally open valve is positioned in the liquid port and a buoyant float is rigidly connected to the valve element for controlling the opening and closing of the valve in response to the liquid level in the housing. The accumulator of the '862 patent is provided with a resilient seal located between the float and the valve element. The seal is positioned to seat around the valve as the valve closes, thereby providing a secondary seal.
While the resilient seal of the '862 patent provides a secondary seal, some leakage may still occur due to unseating of the seal while the valve is in the closed position. Therefore, there is a need for a resilient seal that will better adhere to the mating surface when the valve is in the closed position, thereby preventing leakage.